A Night Atton Would Never Forget
by Bald as Malak
Summary: See the title! Submitted to a KFM Challenge... What happens when the crew mix Galactic Pazaak and alcohol, including the potent Dantooine Flash Fire? ...Ah love, she is amazing!


**A Night Atton Would Never Forget**

**The _Ebon Hawk_.**

_Three days to Onderon and nothing to do. _As he leaned back in his pilot's chair, Atton once again let his mind wander down its favorite, well-traveled road. A vision of her face appeared in his mind. It seemed like the Exile was always smiling, her white teeth competing with her platinum blond hair to blind the admiring onlooker.

_And she's blinded me since that first moment on Peragus_.

Atton felt a flush of pleasure light his face as he reviewed his memories of that moment as he often did when he was alone. Like most Echani women, she was tall and pale, but the Exile kept her hair longer. It cascaded down to her shoulders in lazy waves and seemed to whisper each time she turned her head. Her eyes were different as well, a soft green where other Echani favored sharp, blue eyes.

_She's just so frackin' gorgeous. _

Atton sighed then, but his look of dreamy contentment was quickly replaced by a furrowed brow, and then a look of disgust.

_Sith's nuts Atton! _he reprimanded himself, slapping his hand hard on his leg. _Snap out of it! Be a man and stop moping._

The problem wasm Atton realized, as he tried to plan what he could do to change the situation, was that he didn't know how to approach her. It wasn't that she was hard to talk to, in fact she was perhaps the most approachable person Atton knew.

_So what's the problem then, _stud? Atton snorted to himself. Putting his hands behind his head, Atton tried again to understand why he couldn't line up a flight plan like he normally could with the other ladies he had sought and conquered.

_The problem is that she is too damn approachable. Everything yields the same pleasant, engaging response from her, and so I don't know what she really likes. I don't even know if she likes me. _

As he always did when he needed to think more deeply about a problem, Atton started fiddling with the controls of the ship while he thought.

"Are you sure the horns don't turn you off?" Bao-Dur's voice said over the comm. Before he could hear the response—_probably from Mira_, Atton snorted—he quickly reset the switch that he had accidentally opened.

_At least Bao-Dur is tuning up his engines_, Atton thought, his shoulders slumping as he contemplated the indignity of the shy alien succeeding where he had so far failed.

_Come on, Atton, don't give up now. Remember that Twi'lek noble's wife on Coruscant. That took months of careful planning. So, come on, think, what do you need?_

_Well_, another part of him answered, _the first thing I need to do then is to get her to lower her guard. But I've tried that. I've used every trick I know_. And then an inspiration hit and Atton hit his forehead with a loud smack. _Except for the most low-down, common trick in the book! Frack, I've been so successful, I've forgotten the basic rule of getting laid._

Humming to himself, Atton headed towards the cargo hold.

* * *

&. 

"Okay," Atton spoke into the ship's intercom, "who wants to play galactic pazaak?" Though he didn't normally like playing this variation of pazaak, which allowed multiple people to play the same hand, Atton worried that he might make the Exile suspicious if he approached her alone.

Atton could hear the crew groan, but his smile didn't waver.

"Or should I say, who wants to play galactic pazaak with a few bottles of my hidden stash of booze and Nar Shadaa chocolate rum cookies?"

There was no answer, but as Atton headed towards the cargo hold, he could hear the clanking tread of his crew approaching.

* * *

_&._

_This is perhaps the most fun night that we have spent together_, Atton thought, his mind bleary from the massive amounts of alcohol he had already drunk. The droids had long since powered down, and Mical, Mira, and Bao-Dur had left twenty minutes ago. Though they had left separately, Atton was pretty sure that everyone in the crew knew that Mira and Bao-Dur would be hidden in a corner of the ship for the next few hours.

_And that just leaves me, the Exile, and…_ Atton thought with a sigh, glancing to his right, _Kreia_. He couldn't believed it when she had joined them, and he had found it hard not to stare when she had matched the Exile, him, and the others shot for shot through the night. Her face was flushed and her words slightly slurred. _She's even smiled once_, Atton thought bitterly.

On the other hand, to Atton's chagrin, the Exile showed almost no reaction to the alcohol and Atton was about ready to give up his plan. That is, until the Exile giggled when Atton made a comment on the lay of the cards in front of them.

_And she never_ giggles.

Looking around, Atton noticed that the liquor he had brought out was finished. _Well, that won't stop me. I've got another card up my sleeve, and it's a winner!_

"I'll be back in a second," he told the Exile, ignoring the silent gaze of Kriea.

"Where are you going, big boy?" the Exile asked, yanking on his jacket. "There's still money on the table!"

"I've got a surprise for you." Warmed by the flashing smile she gave him, Atton headed back to the cockpit. Looking around to make sure that he wasn't being observed, he pulled out a bottle from his secret stash behind one of the consoles.

_Dantooine Flash Fire, the most potent alcoholic drink in the galaxy. If this doesn't work, well…_ Not wanting to think about that option, and finding it hard to fit thoughts into his fog-filled head anyway, Atton headed back to the game.

"I bet you've never had this before," Atton crowed as he entered the room, displaying the bottle with a flourish.

"Dantooine Flash Fire," screamed the Exile, jumping up, "I used to sneak out from the Academy to have that stuff. What a treat!" she continued, grabbing Atton's face in her two hands and planting a wet, slobbery kiss on his lips. "Open it up!"

Atton was about to reach out for the Exile, determined to follow up on her kiss, but then Kreia's words stopped him cold.

"Yes, Atton," Kreia said, her tone friendlier than he had ever heard it, "do open it up."

Atton stood there, gaping at Kreia, waiting for the caustic remark that he was sure would follow, until he felt the Exile tug on the bottle.

"Oh no," he said, pushing her hands away, "this has to be opened properly."

"You mean like this?" the Exile asked, and Atton felt a small flick of the Force. The bottle turned his hand, making one full circle top over bottom before the top popped off.

"Well, yeah," Atton mumbled, but then his face brightened again. "Well, let's get down to business, shall we?" he said, sitting down and pouring the liquor for the Exile, and then Kreia. Raising his glass, he clinked it on the Exile's, and then when he saw that he had no other choice, on Kreia's as well.

_This should knock you out, you old hag_. Atton smiled at Kreia as he raised the deep red liquid to his lips. _And then I'll see what promises that kiss contained._

"Come on, let's play," chirped the Exile, draping one arm momentarily across his shoulders while draining the fiery liqour in her glass with the other. Again, Atton moved to pull her closer, but then a discrete cough from Kreia reminded him of their "chaperone."

* * *

&. 

The bottle was finished, and Atton nearly was too. Everything glimmered, even his old dingy pazaak cards, and when he moved his head, the lights seemed to streak across his vision like shooting stars.

_Which is why they call it Dantooine Flash Fire_, he thought. Atton tried to keep his eyes still, but his head moved compulsively to the mysteriously transformed sounds of the hyperdrive, which now seemed to sing of the mysteries of life… if he could only concentrate on the music long enough.

But he wasn't so gone that he missed the fingers that now lightly brushed his arms, shoulders, and hair, nor the fact that they were now alone. Their cards being played more and more mechanically as the tension between them mounted. Rippling from ear to ear like the cascading song of migrating birds, her voice tantalized him, making his blood roar like the slow, moving lava on fiery planet of Mustafar. Enjoying the moment, Atton kept his bedazzled eyes on the cards, letting their bodies do the talking.

As the bottle continued to empty, Atton felt her body draw closer and closer. As he downed the last drop in his glass, he felt an insistent touch of the Force begin to travel up and down his leg. Then, as his muddled brain tried to gauge whether or not it was time to make his move, her body moved instead, covering his. As their lips met, and spoke in a language only Dantooine Flash Fire knew, he reveled in the musky smell of her robe and body. With a pull of his Force, he brought a small mat that lay in the corner of the room towards them, and then maneuvered their closely pressed bodies on to it.

Her hands ran like hot fire across his body, and he gasped as she awakened his nerves with the Force. _It's not so bad being a Jedi after all,_ he thought as they scrambled out of their clothes. Everything was blurred by streaks of Flash Fire light, but his hands read every curve of her body as their bodies entwined, no longer constrained by their awkward robes.

And then Atton was swept away in passion, his body thrumming to the tune of another's like it never had before.

* * *

&. 

Atton eyes popped open when he heard someone walking the corridors. Instinctively, he reached out with his senses to make sure the door to the cargo hold was closed. Reassured that it was, Atton lay there, enjoying the sensation of the warm body pressed against his, her head lying on his chest. Perhaps sensing his wakefulness, the white-haired woman stirred.

"You are still a fool, Atton," Kreia chuckled, patting Atton's cheek lightly with her hand while his mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, "but you do have your uses."

* * *

**&.**

**A/N**: This was inspired by Alice the Revan's Data Packets of Love. So now you know who to blame! ;)

BaM

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End file.
